I actually found that pulling the Johnson bar to somewhere between the first
and second notch works best in my Tripacer. I gat an almost Harrier-like
takeoff. It's pretty neat. Full flaps are more drag than lift.

mike

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
m...

This is actually not uncommon. In some planes it's a crapshoot as
to whether flaps help the short field performance. The 172 for instance
breaks ground quicker, but climbs slower to the 50' obstacle so it's
a wash. If you've got one of the old johnson-bar manual flap version
your optimal performance is to start the roll with the flaps up, drop
them to 10 degrees to break ground and once you get to Vx raise them back
up again.